"Mortar Rafts" Topic

10 Posts

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alan L	28 May 2017 2:52 p.m. PST
I have some 1/600 Peter Pig mortar rafts to paint up. Any idea if they were simply left as unpainted wood or were they in a particular colour? Alan
Frederick	28 May 2017 4:01 p.m. PST
I am pretty sure they were mostly unpainted wood At least, mine are!
StoneMtnMinis	28 May 2017 4:11 p.m. PST
Mortar rafts did not have a long service life. The recoil of the mortar would eventually break the deck timbers and split the hull. So plain wood is fine.
alan L	29 May 2017 1:21 a.m. PST
Thanks. Plain wood it is!
ScottWashburn	30 May 2017 5:02 a.m. PST
Looking at some photos I saw at least one that looked like it was painted black.
EJNashIII	30 May 2017 7:39 p.m. PST
Weren't they armored with boiler plate which gave them a almost black color?
ScottWashburn	31 May 2017 8:28 a.m. PST
I don't think they were armored since they were never supposed to directly engage the enemy. They did have heavy timber construction to stand the strain of firing.
wargamer6	31 May 2017 9:16 a.m. PST
They look like they are painted black to me as well, check out some photos of them. link
EJNashIII	31 May 2017 5:17 p.m. PST
I found a reference that says they had 1/2" iron plate over the casement sides. link Jack Coggins book Arms and Equipment of the Civil war also says the sides were covered in boiler plate. The armor was protection from sniper fire.
alan L	02 Jun 2017 12:23 p.m. PST
Again, many thanks. I think a black/gray should do nicely.

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